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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29792961">What is This Feeling?</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The28thAurora/pseuds/The28thAurora'>The28thAurora</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered, and Beastly (4B) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A/B/O at Hogwarts, A/B/O but make it Reylo, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Alternate Universe - Magic, Antagonistic Introductions, Arguing, BAMF Rey, Between Consenting Adults!, But seriously "What is This Feeling?" helped break my writer's block and finally write this intro so, Chapter 1 if you squint, Consensual Relationship, Consensual Seduction, Detention and Private Tutoring as both a form of Revenge and Bonding, Eventual Teacher/Student Relationship, F/M, Fiery Banter, Instant Rivals, Mistaking an Omega for an Alpha and feeling totally humiliated because of that, Nature vs. Nuture, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Rey is Something of a Science Experiment, Rey is an amazing student, Rey is close friends with the whole rebel crew, Rey struggles with Transfiguration, Rivals to Lovers, So sudden and new?, Teacher-Student Relationship, The lovers bit isn't here yet, They are a PACK, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, This is just the intro, What happens when an Omega is raised by two Alphas?, bickerers to lovers, but still, magical hijinks, what is this feeling?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 16:35:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,746</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29792961</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The28thAurora/pseuds/The28thAurora</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I used @reylomicrofics last prompt of the 2021 Valentine's Season of Microfics ("Beginning") as a diving board to write the part of "Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered, and Beastly" that I was struggling with the most.<br/>The beginning.</p>
<p>More to come from this story, but probably not that soon!</p>
<p>For now, I have a sample in Part 1 of this collection, and a test-run of the introduction to this story below. Enjoy!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Maybe some others in there as well I haven't fully decided, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered, and Beastly (4B) [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2176278</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>What is This Feeling?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>     The beginning of Rey's final year at Hogwarts was supposed to be different.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Sure, the ending was posted to be a nightmare, between her seven N.E.W.T.s classes and her seventh-year thesis, but the beginning was supposed to be her triumph – her homecoming. Little Rey Niima, that everyone underestimated or doubted just because her designation by birth was Omega. Rey, who had earned 7 Outstandings and 2 Exceeds Expectations in her fifth year OWLs, who was Gryffindor's champion Chaser and team captain, was finally returning to her old stomping ground, her home away from home.</p>
<p>     She expected a hero's welcome.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     She got a modest one, sure, from her pack of friends. They settled in the Gryffindor common room, beside the roaring fire. Rose had baked a few little cakes, Finn provided the Butterbeer, Poe cracked a few jokes, and Paige kept an eye on the clock to make sure Finn could back to the kitchens, and she back to Ravenclaw tower, <em>just </em>cutting it close enough so that they didn't break curfew.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     But she also got her own personal nightmare, in the form of one Kylo Ren.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     She got on swimmingly with every other professor. Hell, she'd even been on respectful terms with Professor Tarkin, the strict, former Transfiguration professor. But he just <em>had </em>to go into retirement, with the end of her schooling in sight. In her worst subject, no less.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     He was her first class on Monday morning. Walking into that dusty classroom, sunlight coming through the window slats in thin slices, was like walking into a morgue.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Her fellow seventh years looked on mutely, sitting at attention in an otherwise silent room. The interim professor in question was nose-deep in writing introductory notes on the blackboard, back to the students, wand idly held aloft as the chalk scribbled away at a rapid pace. Rey looked across the way at Poe – the only fellow from her pack she shared this particular class with – and he had little more than a shrug to offer her.</p>
<p>     “Take a seat. We'll begin momentarily,” the professor rumbled, his accent decisively American. Not from this side of the pond, then. Even with her MSS potion steadily working its way through her veins, the hair still stood up on the back of Rey's neck.</p>
<p>     In spite of her dulled senses, she knew an Alpha when she heard one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Still, he was hardly her first Alpha professor. She'd survived a year of Study of Ancient Runes with insufferable Hux' father, and her own head of house, Professor Organa, was an Alpha. She squared her shoulders, adjusted her uniform's robe and straightened its tie, and took up residence in the remaining empty seat with her head held high.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     The bell rang, and the tall, moody Alpha turned around, shrewd, dark eyes sweeping low over the classroom. He had sharp, chiseled facial features, a short, trim mustache and goatee, dark wavy hair worn at a length a bit too long to be fashionable, but not nearly long enough to match the classic foot-long ancient wizard beard and hair combo that Professor Qui-Gon wore so well. His three-piece gray suit was neat, the creases smartly pressed, a navy tie pulled tight about his neck. He'd shucked off his jacket, draping it over his desk in the warm room, revealing the long sleeves of his periwinkle button-up.</p>
<p>     All in all, young for a professor, and quite severe.</p>
<p>     Go figure, he was an Alpha.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     He clicked his tongue, pensive, and seemingly more than a little disappointed at the lot in front of him.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “Right, then, considering you all are in your finishing year, I seriously doubt introductions are necessary; those whom you don't yet know you are bound to get acquainted with sooner or later. However, given that I have only a cursory knowledge of you all from the dockets of basic student info I received, for my benefit, I ask that you each stand in turn, state your name, house, age, and the subject in which you possess the greatest expertise.”</p>
<p>     His vocal tone could not be any lower of he tried. At was if he was attempting to go infrasonic, he spoke from so deep within his chest. But in spite of that odd talent, his tone was dry, erudite, disinterested.</p>
<p>     As if he would much rather be anywhere else than where he currently was.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “In the name of fairness, I will begin. I am Kylo Ren, Professor Ren to you all, 26 years of age, Hogwarts alumni, and I am a devoted scholar of Transfiguration, though my thesis was in Defense Against the Dark Arts.” He nodded at the first row, right-hand student.</p>
<p>     “Wexley, is it? You may start.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     And so they went down the rows, each student standing and giving a brief description of themselves, Professor Ren nodding in assent after each introduction. Rey, seated roughly in the middle of the room by all measures, went twelfth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “I am Rey Niima, Gryffindor, 18. My best subject would have to be...D.A.D.A.”</p>
<p>     “And Charms, and Potions, and Herbology, with a bit of Astronomy sprinkled in,” Poe supplied from the sidelines making the class chuckle mildly. Her endless hunger for knowledge was famous among her class – the Muggleborn who proudly out-shined them all.</p>
<p>     She took a brief moment to preen at the compliment and smile lightly.</p>
<p>     But Professor Ren was far from in on the joke. In fact, it made him probe.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “Really?” Professor Ren asked, resting his weight on the heels of his palms as he leaned over his desk.</p>
<p>     “Uh – don't mind Poe, sir, he was just making a bit of a joke,” Rey explained hurriedly, already moving to sit down.</p>
<p>     “Just a moment,” Ren interjected, coming around to stand in front of his desk, Rey catching herself in a hurry, bouncing awkwardly on her toes to right herself.</p>
<p>     “You wouldn't happen to be the same Miss Niima who had nearly perfect OWLs?” he said, leaning back against his desk. Ah, so he <em>had</em> heard of her.</p>
<p>     “Yes, that's me,” Rey said, with a bright smile.</p>
<p>     “Miss Niima, can you tell me the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Rey blinked rapidly.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “Sorry, sir?”</p>
<p>     “Can you answer the question?” Rey gawked for a moment, trying to string a sentence together.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “A <em>Potions</em> question, sir? Yes, Monkshood and Wolfsbane are the same plant. They also go by the name of aconite.”</p>
<p>     “Best method of defense against mer-people?”</p>
<p>     “Uh, erm – protego and a well-placed sleeping charm, stupefy in a pinch if they're being inordinately aggressive – why?-”</p>
<p>     “Weaknesses of the Bubble-head Charm when compared to gillyweed?”</p>
<p>     “I – well – duration of the Bubble-head Charm is shorter on the whole than gillyweed, and, should the user become incapacitated underwater, the bubble will pop. Gillyweed, however, will still remain active for a proper hour, ensuring the user does not suffocate while unconscious within that window – but <em>sir</em>, why do you care to know?!” Rey protested, aghast and bewildered.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Professor Ren's erudite mask softened for a moment, an imitation of a smile popping out, a bit snarkier in appearance than she would have liked.</p>
<p>     “Just one questions more, Miss Niima. Merely as a matter of curiosity between scholars.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Rey may have been a bit naïve when it came to sensing blood in the water in general (if she'd known better when she was eleven, her legendary rivalry with Hux might have never begun), but she damn well <em>knew</em> Professor Ren was more than just curious.</p>
<p>     He was testing her.</p>
<p>     But upon first meeting her? Rey couldn't fathom why.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “What is the most effective base item or animal that can be transfigured into a pocket watch?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Rey wracked her brain, rooting through all her fervent memorization of transfigurable matter from the year before, scored for efficiency and totality of transformation.</p>
<p>     Telling time, keeping a schedule, calculating. A base item that was capable of sensing the passage of time, tallying sums, a measure-</p>
<p>     “A metronome, sir?”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     His mouth settled back into its stern, neutral line.</p>
<p>     “Hmm. Well...I suppose it is impossible to be 'Outstanding' at everything,” Professor Ren rumbled, returning to his spot behind his desk, gaze already pivoting to train on the next student over.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Rey, meanwhile, sunk into her chair in a daze. As Jessica introduced herself, Rey stewed in shock.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Something was happening to her. Something <em>new.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     The sensation was as potent as it was sudden.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     She was growing dizzy, and she wasn't even moving in her seat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     The feeling rushed down from her light head and settled low, beginning to boil and burble in her stomach.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Her hands curled into fists on her desktop, knuckles turning white even as her whole body flooded with fervor and her face no-doubt turned bright pink.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     She was seeing red, and it was utterly apparent, as the last student finished their introduction, that she absolutely <em>hated </em>the man standing before her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     No. That wasn't a strong enough word for this know-it-all bastard of a professor who had swept into all their lives as if he knew exactly what to expect. As if he'd already formed opinions about each and every one of them before they'd even opened up their mouths.</p>
<p>     And he'd humiliated her in front of the class, grilled in her in subjects he didn't even have the license to <em>teach.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     If Rey was a bread-and-butter Omega, nothing more would have come of the matter. But her parents, her wonderful parents who had saved her from Reginald Plutt's despicable foster home, who were a pair of kick-ass Muggle Alphas, and had taught her otherwise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “Rey, sweetheart,” her father had said, while she sat on his knee and he dried her tears “those things that Tommy Rodgers said aren't true. Not one word of them.”</p>
<p>     “No?” she'd said, voice choked with snot and sadness.</p>
<p>     “No, baby. You may be an Omega, but all that really means is that you have heats and not ruts. You are not weak, and you certainly don't have to take talk like that from anyone, anywhere. Tell you what, how 'bout this? I'll teach you how to defend yourself. But you have to promise me you'll only fight someone in self-defense. Or, when they really, really deserve it.”</p>
<p>     “I promise, Dad,” she'd said, nodded in earnest, glimmering tears drying in her eyes.</p>
<p>     “Alrighty, sun ray,” said her father, beaming down at her as he always did, his Alpha's smile filling her with brimming confidence as it did when it was meant just for her “Now, let's clean off those scraped knees – wouldn't want to get any infections – and I'll start by showing you how to block attacks before you learn to throw a few of your own.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     She loathed Professor Ren. And she was <em>not </em>going to roll over and take this kind of treatment.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “Very well then, let's begin with some baseline assessments of your OWL abilities-”</p>
<p>     “How <em>dare </em>you...”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     He froze mid sentence. Rey hadn't even raised her voice. Her sharp tone was enough to do the trick and catch his attention.</p>
<p>     He pivoted on the spot, attention totally diverting from the blackboard and settling squarely on her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “Excuse me, Miss Niima?” His tone was grating – brutally low in warning. She didn't blink. She rose, equally slow and menacing.</p>
<p>     “What gives you the <em>gall </em>to test me in front of the entire class, in subjects which you are <em>not </em>my professor in, only to dismiss my exam scores, which speak for themselves, out of hand, and not to mention exemplary magic skills, simply for getting a single answer wrong?”</p>
<p>     And he had the nerve to <em>laugh</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “If your magic were truly <em>exemplary</em>, you would have automatically known small migratory birds make the best transfigured pocket watches. You would not have been wrong. And as for test scores, Miss Niima, outside of the hiring process at Wizarding institutions, they don't mean a thing out in the real world. Ability is the true measure of skill. Feel free to prove my assessment wrong in the course of the next two terms.”</p>
<p>     He returned the blackboard, triumphant. <em>Gloating.</em></p>
<p>     Rey <em>seethed</em>, the faintest growl worming its way out of the back of her throat.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Before he could hope to turn around and stop her, her eyes locked onto his leather briefcase, seated on his desk, and her wand was in her head, and she took aim, casting the non-verbal <em>Draconifors </em>with unparalleled vitriol.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Ren whipped around with ample time to cast the nonverbal shield, and block the fireball the man-sized, brown-leather dragon breathed his way, orange-red eyes glowing in a clear indication of its transfigured status.</p>
<p>     “How's about I prove you wrong, <em>right now?</em>” Rey barked, eyes burning with her hatred.</p>
<p>     Ren's <em>Reparifarge </em>was so swift, practically violent, that she almost missed the rightward swipe of his wand; her dragon just collapsed in on itself, folding back into a briefcase with a huff of smoke.</p>
<p>     Ren whirled on her, looking livid enough to spit. Or bite.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “<em>Miss Niima</em>, if you do not want to be saddled with a<em> month </em>of detention in remedial Transfiguration, you will sit down <em>this instant,</em>” he growled.</p>
<p>     “Apologize for your unfair questioning first, sir,” she said, unyielding. He scoffed, lip curling.</p>
<p>     “You mean for bruising your precious pride? Please.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Rey's arm seemed to act of its own accord. Her wand whipped out in a decisive strike, like a cobra...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     ...And Professor Ren's wand shot from his hand and flew across the classroom, landing decisively in her outstretched palm, curling into a victorious fist. A perfect <em>expelliarmus</em>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     The room was dead silent in shock, trepidation. After a minute, Rey could <em>just </em>pick up on the murmurs of congratulations and awe with her highly acute hearing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Then the Professor rounded his desk, charging towards her, eyes black with near-murderous rage. The loathing fled her, stark realization that she'd just insulted and threatened her professor in turn rushing over her, cold and sharp like a bucket of ice water.</p>
<p>     She thought he'd strike her, but he merely ripped his wand from her grasp, towering over her.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     For the first time in her life, Rey felt a hint of that quailing, quivering Omega fear, the instinctual type that had forced her designation into subservience and submission for generations.</p>
<p>     It was the single worst feeling she'd ever experienced.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “<em>There is only room for </em><em><b>one</b></em><em> Alpha in this classroom, Miss Niima. I suggest you learn your place, or I </em><em><b>promise</b></em><em>you, you will suffer the consequences,</em>” Ren grunted, his voice gravelly and roiling like the ocean.</p>
<p>     But her fear fled just as quick as it had come with those words, replaced only by vague confusion. He was getting territorial because of her? But she was...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “Professor Ren, I'm an Omega.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     The change was instantaneous.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Professor Ren's monstrous pupils shrank to pinpricks. His shoulders scrunched together and he seemed to cave in on himself, as if his spine had been transfigured from iron to oatmeal; as if he wanted desperately to make himself appear smaller.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Rey allowed herself a little gasp of wonder. She'd made an <em>Alpha </em>feel territorial. <em>Her.</em> Gryffindor's little Omega.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     And in realizing that, said Alpha's face had turned bright red with shame, and no small dose of embarrassment.</p>
<p>     It was the sweetest victory she possibly could have secured. And with that, she took her seat, back as straight as the Queen's.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     “As I said, your progress over the course of the term alone will change my opinion...” Ren muttered, something to fill the silence, to regain control over the situation, rather than actual instruction.</p>
<p>     Ren ripped his shaken gaze from her, returned to the front of the room, and continued teaching as if nothing had happened at all.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     Of course, as the class went on and they demonstrated their baseline Transfiguration, he nitpicked her transfiguration technique, critiquing everything from her stance to her footwork to her wand-hold. He quizzed the class on spells of Outstanding N.E.W.T. level difficulty, was merciless in his comments and haughty opinions. And at the end of class, he assigned a three scroll essay on vanishing spells, due next week.</p>
<p>     And he stared square at Rey when he assigned it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>     The furious, raw, red hatred had drained from Rey's system the moment she'd disarmed him. But she was still simmering in pure disdain and a disgusted dislike most ardent, that she very seriously doubted would ever fade.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>     And if Ren's unblinking, smoldering gaze and pinched expression were any indication, the feeling was mutual.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>All comments and critiques are greatly appreciated! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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